


Like Gravity

by mizufallsfromkumo



Series: Gravity [3]
Category: Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Dick Grayson is Nightwing, First Meetings, Gen, Hospitalization, Hurt, Hurt Dick Grayson, Injury, Insecurity, Jason Todd is Robin, Mentions of the team - Freeform, Sneaking Around
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-02-04
Updated: 2018-02-04
Packaged: 2019-03-13 09:47:47
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,797
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13568010
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mizufallsfromkumo/pseuds/mizufallsfromkumo
Summary: “I know you there,” Dick suddenly stated clearly.Jason’s blood ran cold.  He blinked as his predecessor, who didn’t look up from the magazine in front of him.  Calming finding it still more interesting that looking in Jason’s general direction.“Hiding behind curtain and the defibrillator.”  Dick continued, pointing at Jason was ease.  “I’ve known you been there since you came in and slide behind there ten minutes ago. You were rather noticeable.”Rude,Jason thought with a huff.





	Like Gravity

**Author's Note:**

> Ta-da, another installment because...why not. This has some momentum, I'm not going to let it slip away from me just yet.
> 
> Also, just a slight disclaimer, I am not the biggest comic fan (in the sense of reading them) and there for have a somewhat limited knowledge and grasp of some characterization. Which is why I think I had some issues with how to end this fic. And I apologize for any terrible characterization that one might find in this. But I am taking some creative liberties that I think can excuse some of it.

Jason easily hid behind some discarded equipment.  

Silently slipping through the doorway, ducking in and huddling behind a nearby bedcutain.  Carefully positioning himself to see out from behind.  Finding the best position to both see everything and stay hidden after only a few tries.

He took some pride in how easy it felt, but not too much.

After all he was sneaking around med bay.  Hiding from, no not hiding...secretly observing, someone hurt and on a light cocktail of pain meds all the way at the back of the room.  Jason was pretty sure he could have walked in and rolled around like he was in a cheesy spy movie before taking shelter behind a closer curtain and still gone unnoticed.

But it wasn’t just anyone who was on the far bed.

No, it was his predecessor, Dick Grayson.  

The first Robin Bruce ever had.  The one Jason found himself constantly compared too.  By just about  _ everyone _ that knew the first Robin.  The damn shadow Jason can’t really shake, despite everyone acting like it was never there in the first place.

Which...you know, stings a little.

Jason didn’t want to chance getting noticed.  Because according to Wally, Dick was like scary levels of ninja, where Jason could decently take to the shadows.  

No, he wanted to observe the other first.  

The last time he was completely in Dick’s presence, the other briefly woke up from unconsciousness while he was reading aloud to feel the space with more noise than just beeping.  Barbara suggested it, for Bruce’s sake, but Jason knew it was probably more for her than anyone else's.  Then Dick woke up for likea minute, said like five words, and then faded back into nothing again.

But that hadn’t given Jasson much.

Jason wanted to take in as much detail as he could, now that the other was awake before approaching.  Work out a plan for how to go about introducing himself to the first Robin.  Something more than Bruce’s plain suggestion of ‘just introduce yourself’ before he zetaed away to somewhere else and just left Jason.

Like Jason hadn’t already tried to do that like five times already.

The first two times, he came on the tail end conversations where Dick sounded exhausted.  The third time, Barbara straight up gave him a look that told not come in, and then not a minutes later Bruce and Dick were arguing loudly.  The fourth time, Conner looked angry leaving the med bay, so Jason just turned around.  And so on.

Jason wanted to make a decent enough impression on the other.

Because on some level he wanted Dick to like him.  Approve of him.

Like it might just make everyone stop acting like they did when Batman first introduced Jason.  All awkward and weird, because Jason was forced on them and their alliances were with  _ someone else. _

It didn’t matter if Barbara or M’gann told him repeatedly that Dick would like him.  Or Bruce not understanding  _ why  _ he felt that.

At least Alfred is willing to say ‘given time’ in regards to the possibility.

Jason was pretty sure, just walking up to hurt and jumpy ex-first Robin, and basically saying ‘hey I’m Robin now deal with it’ was not going to go over so well.  

The best that could happen is Dick would hate him, or like throw the magazine he was loosely flipping through at Jason’s head.  The worst would probably be Dick trying to attack him and pulling all his stitches.  The current Robin just knew he would get the blame for all of it, if that happened.

Not to mention there was a reason Dick was at the far end of the room.  

Wally did something, that spiraled the first Robin into something attack mode.  All Jason knew was Dick threw a plastic spoon like a weapon at the speedster and almost broke his wrist.  Among some other things involving the rolling table over his bed before Barbara, Zatanna, and Artemis could talk him down.

Black Canary had suggested moving Dick to the far end of med bay to give him space.  

A long trek for visitors, that allowed Dick to assess if someone was a threat to him or not.  Or gave everyone room to back the hell up if he panicked too much.  She also suggested more muted, calm encounters and subjects would be best.  Let Dick decide what what he wanted to talk about at any given moment, and not pushing.

So far that seemed to be working.

But took out all options for sneaking up on Dick.  

Meaning Jason couldn’t use his skills to sneak up on Dick to impress him.  Show him how good he was at being Robin, despite only been a few months.

So Jason was at a loss of what to do.

And he was running out of time.

“I know you there,” Dick suddenly stated clearly.  

Jason’s blood ran cold.  He blinked as his predecessor, who didn’t look up from the magazine in front of him.  Calming finding it still more interesting that looking in Jason’s general direction.

“Hiding behind curtain and the defibrillator.”  Dick continued, pointing at Jason was ease.  “I’ve known you been there since you came in and slide behind there ten minutes ago. You were rather noticeable.”

_ Rude _ , Jason thought with a huff. 

Because you know, he was still technically learning how to be Robin. He’s only been in the custome for like five months.  And he’s only been training for an additional month longer.  He’s still a few levels under scary ninja.  

Give him a break.

“You’re just gonna stay there, or…”  Dick sighed out loudly, turning slightly to look where Jason was hiding.

Jason huffed as he eased out of his spot.  He angrily adjusted his sunglass before he shoved his hands into the pockets of his hoodie.  He had long since decided that meeting Dick in his Robin outfit was not a good idea, and Barbara had softly agreed where Bruce didn’t see the point.  

Civies felt safe, everyone’s on decent enough footing.

Carefully Jason made his way towards Dick.  Keeping his eyes on the ground in front of as he walked, until he came to stop at Dick’s area.  Stopping just outside the track of Dick’s privacy curtain.  

Slowly he glanced up to look at the first Robin.

There was a ghost of a smile on his lips.  Something Jason was sure was for show, even though he couldn’t see Dick’s eyes.  Bruce had given him a mask to wear shortly after he woke up.  So the whole team could visit him, and not just the ones who knew who he was under the mask.

His shoulder hung loosely, and his body language was a level of relaxed.  But Jason could tell it seemed to be out of more general tiredness than trying to appear friendly.  His fingers were absently fiddling with the edge of one of the blankets on him.  A small sign that Dick was perhaps a little nervous too.

The two seem to stare at each for a few moments.

“You’re him,”  Dick started slowly.  His voice relatively level and neutral, “aren’t you?  The other  _ Robin _ .”  His voice turned venomous at the name Robin.

However to Jason’s surprise, it didn’t sound completely directed at him.  

Like Dick is mad, but it’s not really at Jason.  Rather his anger towards the younger teen was a more muted side effect, because Jason is now Robin.  Yet he wasn’t the root of the issue.  Which gave Jason some comfort, but not much.

“I have a name,” Jason started roughly with a deep frown.  

But Dick just gave him a look that was a clear statement of Bruce’s no name policy.  Or at least a very detailed understanding of it.

Jason sighed and nodded slowly.  “Yeah.”

Dick hummed slightly, turned away to look down at his hands.

“Sorry,”  Jason started weak, half-hearted attempt to not be awkward, as he brought a hand up to run the back of his neck.  Dick’s head instantly shot up to look at him.  Jason didn’t flinch at all the action, if anything he planted his stance down more.  “When he asked if I wanted to be Robin, I couldn’t say no.”

And how could he. 

There hadn’t been a night on the street where kids didn’t talk about how great it had to be to be Robin.  Flipping around, taking down bad guys with cool gadgets.  Fighting beside Batman and swinging from rooftop to rooftop had to be cool.  Not to mention a chance to really have a go at cleaning up the streets of Gotham as something other than some street rat kid just trying to make to tomorrow.  

It was like Bruce handed him the holy grail.

“Besides, Batman said you’d moved on.”  Jason continued after a moment.

Dick sharply said something that wasn’t english, and wasn’t a language Bruce was currently having Jason learn.  It was harsh and mean enough for Jason to know Dick wasn’t saying anything nice.  And it was probably not something to be repeated in front of Alfred if it was said in English.

Jason went quiet.

Watching Dick closely, as he continued to mutter curses in a language Jason didn’t understand.  Watching as he curled and uncurled his hands into fists and stared down at the magazine on the table over him.  

At some point Dick looked up at Jason pointedly.  The lenses of his mask narrowed in an all too familiar glare.  Jason stood completely still, just waiting for whatever was going to come next.  

Then Dick sighed, and leaned back against the pillows of the bed.  He brought his right hand up to run through his dark, raggedy, shoulder length hair.  Closing his eyes for a moment, muttering to himself again in something not english, and sighed again.

When he seemed to open in eyes again, he turned to look at Jason.  

He almost seemed slightly surprised to see Jason standing there.  

“Look, whatever is going on with you and Boss man, isn’t going to change the fact that I’m Robin now.”  Jason said with a wave of confidence that flowed through him.  Honestly if Dick wanted to be Robin again, he was going to have to pry it from Jason cold dead hands and then some.  “So, you’re going to have to learn to deal with it.” 

Well, so much for not saying that to Dick’s face.

Dick’s mask lifted slightly to one side.  Like he was raising an eyebrow at Jason.  And something more of a smile wormed its way onto his face after a few moments.  An actual genuine smile that made Jason feel like Dick wasn’t just going to toss a magazine at his head or attack him out right.

Like he actually saw something he liked in Jason.

Or like he was relishing in a sense of ‘oh Bruce fucked up’ if Jason had to guess.

“Alright,” Dick said suddenly with a slight shrug. There was a bite in his voice, that was once again not directly directed at Jason. “That’s fair.  Robin wasn’t B’s to give away in the first place, but it’s a fair enough point.”  

Jason shifted uncomfortable at the words.  

Because he didn’t know what that meant, nor did he really want to find out.  At least, not at the moment, maybe when he knew Dick just a little bit better.  Nor did he want to ask Bruce or Alfred, because it  _ feels _ like a question the first Robin should answer.

“Okay, good.” Jason returned evenly with a nod after a moment.

He wasn’t exactly sure  _ what _ else to say.

The current Robin turned on the balls of his feet after that.  Doing his best to ignore the feeling of Dick’s eyes on him.  It’s felt eerily similar to when Batman look him over from time to time.  But different, in the sense that Dick was actually accessing how much of a threat level Jason actually was.

Jason wasn’t going to stick around to be visually analyzed.

“Wait,”  Dick’s voice stopped Jason before he could take a step.  “That’s it?”

“Yeah…”  Jason stated slowly.  

He turned back to look at the other teen with as blank of look as he could manage.  He was a little confused, if he was being honest.  Jason had gotten enough vibes from everyone in Cave that Dick meeting him might not be something that went well.  Or at the very least wouldn’t last terribly long if it happened.

And all Jason wanted to was just introduce himself before he came back to the manor.

He could more than check that box off.

“You don’t want to sit down and get to know me, or anything.”  Dick asked casually.  Like he wasn’t even angry seconds ago.

“No,” Jason said easily.

There wasn’t much he felt he need to learn about the first Robin that he didn’t already know.  Living in his shadow was enlightening enough as it was.  Bruce seemed to have something to say about the first Robin in regards to Jason’s performance as Robin at least once a week.

Dick frowned at him.

“You’re coming back to the manor, tomorr--”

“Well maybe,  _ I _ want to get to know you.  Come on, sit.”  Dick said calmly cut him off.  He motioned to a chair to his left, before hissing at the pain the movement caused slightly.  “Promise I won’t bite.”

Jason eyed the chair for a moment, then back at Dick.  Then back the chair, before he moved towards it.  

“I’d break your nose before you could.”  He said with a confident huff.  “I don’t care if your injured, I’ll do it.”

Dick snorted at the suggest.

Like there was no way in the world that would happen.  

Jason makes a note, as he sat down in the chair, to prove his point when Dick’s cleared for sparing in the future.  Without completely breaking Dick’s nose, cause Bruce would probably be pissed, but hit him hard enough to prove his point.

“Where’d B find you?”  Dick asked suddenly,a light teasingness to his voice.  It doesn’t completely make the question sound not so pointed.  

The older teen settled into his pillows some as he watched Jason.  

Waiting for him to answer his question.  Actually seeming patient and interested, like he just knew it was going to be a good story.  And totally not like he was going to throw his magazine at Jason.  Or attack him in any way shape or from.

It kind of settled Jason’s internal debate on answer the question.

“Crime alley,”  Jason stated easily.  He paused, and glanced down at the ground for a moment before looking back at Dick.  “I was trying to get the last tire off the Batmobile when he found me.”

Dick started at him for a what felt like a full minute.

His face completely slack with disbelief as he started at Jason behind the mask.  Jason found himself grinning sheepishly under the other teen’s gaze.  Which he hadn’t even done when Batman found him.  

Maybe it was because Bruce looked slightly impress under the cowl than anything else.  Or Jason gave less of damn back than, because he was going to go make some serious money that night.

But suddenly under the former Robin’s gaze he felt... _ judged _ .

Dick suddenly snorted.  

Then he chuckled.  

And then he laughed.

Threw his head back against the pillow and laughed.  

A light, fluttering sort of sound Jason hadn’t heard before right then.  And he eavesdropped a few of Dick’s meetings with Team members.  There had only been a breath of a laugh then, or a slight chuckle.  

But nothing like this.  A rolling sort of belly laugh, that had Dick hissing in pain at the wound in his side.  But he continued to laugh through it anyway.  Even shooed Jason away when he tried to help slightly by handing Dick the morphine drip.  Because he was not going to be responsible for Dick hurting himself because he laughed too hard.

“You serious stole the tires off the Batmobile?”  Dick asked, as his laughs and hissing subsided into chuckles.

“Three of them, yeah.”  Jason nodded as he eased back into the chair.

“Oh that is...asterous.”  Dick stated with a huge grin.

Jason felt his lips pull up slightly at the words. 

The door to med bay suddenly opened and Wally came strolling in with an armful of snacks.  Jason saw an opening for his departure as the speedster approached.  He managed to slip away easily enough as Wally blabbered on about his snacks Dick technically shouldn’t be eating just yet.  

Jason didn’t miss the small thumbs up Barbara gave him as he pushed passed her in the hallway.

**Author's Note:**

> SO yeah, I wanted to do a this fic from Jason's POV. (and I am sorry if it sucks, because of reasons in the notes at the beginning). As it felt right to have Dick's and his first meeting in this series be from his perspective. Which is part of the reason I struggled with how to end this fic.
> 
> When I was trying to rewrite the end, I couldn't not put in the part where Jason explains how he meet Bruce. Kind of like an ice breaker between them, as Dick is moving back into the manor in the next fic. 
> 
> This isn't my favorite fic in the series so far, but I can at least stand the ending more than I could when I first wrote it. So yeah.
> 
> Oh and another thing, I made a playlist for this series. You can find it [here](https://8tracks.com/mizufallsfromkumo/like-gravity)
> 
> I hope you enjoyed. I will see you all soon.


End file.
